A SENIOR councillor has stepped out of the shadows of his closest ally with whom he was first elected 32 years ago to become leader of Darlington Borough Council.

Councillor Bill Dixon said finances would be the main agenda of his four-year term as leader, but he was looking forward to his role after being officially announced as the Labour and council leader.

Coun Dixon formally accepted the role as council leader at a party annual meeting last night, three days after he was named as the council leader at the election count.

He succeeds Councillor John Williams after Labour held control of the council by winning 34 seats.

The pair were first elected together in 1979 in the former Eastbourne North ward.

Coun Dixon has been deputy to his friend for the past two decades, joking on Friday that it "must be the longest apprenticeship anyone has served".

When Coun Williams told him he intended to stand down at this round of elections, Coun Dixon decided he wanted to carry on.

Yesterday, he said: "I'm looking forward to being leader, but it's going to be a challenging year.

"The last group had to wrestle with some difficult financial issues which no one really saw coming before the previous election.

"This new group got elected in the knowledge of what the finances are like.

"We want to pull together, get the finances sorted and defend the council services."

Among his aims, Coun Dixon said he wanted to change how members interacted with their ward residents and build on council consultation such as the Talking Together process.

He said: "John's approach worked very well and it delivered phenomenal results for the borough."

Coun Dixon said he has always had a passion for politics and he restated his disappointment that more people did not vote in Thursday's election when turnout was 41.7 per cent.

Darlington's Labour MP Jenny Chapman said: "Bill's a real character and he will do the town proud."